Doming is used extensively by the printing industry to create product identifying labels, decals, etc. for a host of commercial products. Customarily the printed decal or label used the doming which relies upon a printed decal or label having an adhesive backing which is adhesively applied to a backing sheet followed by doming with a clear doming plastic material. Basically doming creates a raised domed surface typically overlaying or supporting a manufacturer or supplier logo, service, trademark, etc. Due to technological limitations such domed product use has been basically restricted to flat surface applications. Attempts to apply the flat surface domed products to curved surfaces leads to destruction or separation of the domed structure from the backing.
The traditional manufacture of domed decals, labels and the like typically involves applying an adhesive to the backside of a suitable printable substrate along with a strip away strip which prevents premature adhesion of the adhesive backing to unwanted substances. After imprinting (e.g. such as by silk screen printing) the front panel section of the substrate with a desired inscription, the imprinted substrate is domed with an uncured thermosetting doming precursor applied in a prescribed dosage onto the printed inscription under conditions and amounts sufficient to ultimately create a cured (i.e. thermoset) domed structure of the desired configuration overlaying the imprinted inscription. The thermosetting uncured resin application technique creates a viscous thermosetting mass possessing sufficient fluidity to flow about its application site while also possessing sufficient cohesiveness to form the desired contiguous domed structure which can be consistently reproduced with substantial unity in shape. Uncured thermosetting resins meeting these functional attributes are commonly available from manufactures and suppliers who specially formulate the uncured thermosetting precursors for use by doming manufacturers. The uncured domed resins overlaying the imprintation are typically cured often at an elevated oven temperature to set or cure the thermoset cross-linkage of the dome to the desired core thermoset polymeric structure. The curing of the thermoset polymeric dome provides a thermoset dome highly stable and resistant against mechanical, thermal and chemical deterioration which renders these labels ideally suited for the decaling of a host of consumer goods. The thermoset domes necessarily possess a high degree of clarity and transparency which allows an unobstructed view of the inscription protectively covered by the dome. The adhesive backing of the imprinted substrate backing may then be removed and applied to a label or decal supportive backing similarly equipped with a tear-away protective covering sheet which is removed for adhesive decaling or labeling by the manufacture of the labeled or decaled goods.
Unfortunately the decades old domed decals and labeling manufacture has heretofore been applicable only to those domed labels and decals which are necessarily applied to flat surfaced goods. Attempts to apply such domed thermoset polymeric labels and decals to curved surfaces inevitably results in inherent damage to the domed label or decal product. Thermoset polymeric fracturing, cracking, or separation from the curved surfaces unfortunately renders these domed labels and decals useless for such applications. A host of attempts to provide curved domes have led to the same inevitable destruction and failure of the domed decal or label. Attempts to apply stronger and more adhering adhesives to the domed decals and labels proved to be unsuccessful in preventing structural failure. Various other manufacturing techniques were also unsuccessful. A major problem with curved domes appears to be due to the memory properties of the thermoset polymer which overwhelms the domed substrate ability to retain the desired thermoset polymeric coating and domed structure when bent. Consequently the labeling and decaling of curved goods with domed labels or decals has remained an unsolved problem by the industry for decades.
There exists a host of factors which if not taken into account during the fabrication of the domed product can lead to dome product failure. Successful domed product manufacture necessitates that the dome provides chemical, weathering (e.g. moisture, etc.), solvent and physical (e.g. scratching, shattering, impact, abrasion, etc.) resistances normally encountered in its end usage. These desired physical and chemical attributes are typically provided by a cross-linked and transparent thermoset (e.g. polyurethane) domed plastic composite which typically protects a desired visually clear imprint (e.g. a trademark, logo, etc.) as customarily achieved in the manufacture of flat surface applied decals or labels. When applied to flat surfaces these domed products notoriously perform exceptionally. However, as pointed out attempts to apply these domed products to curved goods create stress fracturing and thermoset plastic separation from its backing components which inherently renders these domed product unsatisfactory for application to curved surfaces.
The doming problem is further compounded by the fact the doming manufacture necessitates a layering or tiering of multiple chemical components which must individually and collectively cooperatively function in a unitary manner so as to retain structural integrity when subjected to bending. This necessitates that not only the backing substrate but also each coating tier and dome must be cooperatively capable of being bent so that the composite structure, as a whole, uniformly bends and permanently retains its bent structural integrity without any bending failures. This must necessarily be accomplished with each element of the composite remaining firmly bonded together without any phase separation, fracturing, fissuring, or any other dome failure which would destroy the clarity and functional use of the dome. Any structural failures such as stress fracturing of the domed product becomes readily apparent by visual inspection.
In general there exist a number of manufacturers and suppliers of UV curable inks which may be adapted to a multiplicity of end uses. Certain of these inks are solvent based which includes those of a thermoplastic type. Due to the safety hazards associated with vaporized solvents, solvent based coatings have been increasingly phased out of production with the thermoset cured inks becoming more prominent.